A personal quest to promote the use of wind energy and hydrogen technology in the Great Lakes area of the United States. The Great Lakes area is in a unique position to become an energy exporting region through these and other renewable energy technologies. *Update 2014: Just do it everywhere - Dan*

President Donald Trump will likely maintain the wind energy Production Tax Credit, especially with Energy Secretary Rick Perry in his Cabinet, said Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad. "I think that President Trump recognizes how important renewable energy was to his victory here in Iowa and the heartland," he said.

Iowa's wind industry is poised for growth and is expected to employ up to 17,000 people by 2020, with another $9 billion, according to Navigant Consulting. "Wind does not provide just well-paying jobs, either, many Iowans also know wind farms are the new 'drought-resistant cash crop' in Iowa, paying up to $20 million a year to Iowa farmers," said American Wind Energy Association CEO Tom Kiernan.

American utilities are poised to continue their shift away from coal-fired generation in favor of low-cost natural gas, wind and solar, regardless of the action of the Trump administration, observers say. Rolling back of the Clean Power Plan isn't expected to stop the transition.

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Statkraft has entered into a power purchase agreement with a 6.15-megawatt wind farm in France, according to the company. "For us as a company, this is an important step in order to establish Statkraft in the French renewable scene," said Statkraft's Lillian Dale.

China Three Gorges-Fujian Energy joint venture Chinese Fuqing Haixia Generation has ordered three 6-megawatt Haliade 150 machines from General Electric for its offshore wind pilot project off the coast of China, according to the companies. The 73-MW project is expected to use turbines from a variety of companies.

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The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said it has agreed to meet with state officials from California to discuss the state's outlook for offshore wind development. Both parties are in the process of gathering data on California's oceanfront in preparation of launching a system dedicated to offshore wind planning.

The Sierra Club's Ready for 100 renewable energy commitment initiative has grown to include 25 US cities, according to the organization. Observers say that cities from both sides of the political spectrum have joined the initiative, which shows that renewables like wind and solar can have bipartisan support.

Madison, Wis., city officials passed a resolution to reach 100% renewable energy and completely eliminate the city's carbon emissions. The resolution calls for a commitment of up to $250,000 and hiring an expert to develop a plan to achieve the city's renewable goals.

Thirty-nine of Maine's unorganized territories have regained the right to reject proposed wind farms from being constructed in their communities, writes Darren Fishell in this piece. The areas lost a say in local wind development with the passage of the 2008 Maine Wind Energy Act, which granted zoning approval to projects in unorganized territories without requiring a review by a regional commission.

A bill under consideration in the Montana Senate could stall wind and other renewable energy development in the state, said the Sierra Club Montana Chapter. The bill would require utilities Puget Sound Energy and Talen Energy to pay millions of dollars to compensate for the closure of coal-burning plants, plus reimburse various local entities for lost revenue.

The Ohio Power Siting Board has approved permits for eight wind facilities; another three projects are in the pending or pre-application stage. Construction of these turbines would add 1,452 megawatts of clean energy capacity to Ohio's energy mix, enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes. It will also create more local jobs and new orders for Ohio's nation-leading 62 factories that build wind turbine parts. However, hurdles must be overcome to move forward. Read more.

Failure has to be an option. ... No important endeavor that required innovation was done without risk.

James Cameron, filmmaker

These stories were selected and summarized by independent editors at SmartBrief Inc., not by AWEA's staff, and do not represent AWEA positions. They reflect the variety of daily coverage of American wind power.

The above links are all to the e-book versions of these chapbooks.
For paperback versions and to view a listing of all my books as they are released click
HERE: Dan Stafford's Poetic Universe

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*NOTE* Before moving the Zephyr to this domain on blogspot, the original blog hosted at Whizzyrds.com/Windblog.html had over 88,000 visits, and was receiving about 25-100 visits per day since May, 2003.
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I believe I had around 200,000 total hits or so on this blog before Sitemeter went defunct.

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About Me

Happily married with two grown children out on their own, I've had extensive life experience in many areas. I consider myself a Progressive, and I strive to make the world a better place for those around me and those who'll follow after us. I am an Air Force Veteran, and I have been a Telecommunications Technician since 1993, with a Vocational Diploma in Aircraft Electronics. My interests are Environmentalism, Science, Social Justice, Poetry and Music, Reading, Karate, and learning Spanish. I'm originally from Southern Wisconsin, and have lived in the Chicago Metro area (Naperville, Plainfield, & Oak Brook) since late 1997. Moved to Temecula, CA January of 2015.

Why I Publish This Blog:

"One thing that many people do not realize is that states like Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan are sitting on a gold mine of wind energy potential. Or, more properly, next to the mine. The Great Lakes are probably the area in the USA with the third largest inland wind energy potential. Think of just the nickname for Chicago. "The Windy City". Milwaukee is even windier, I can tell you. Why? Because they sit on the edge of a great flat area where there is both a land-water temperaturedifferential, and a large flat expanse of water that is comparably shallow.Oilrigs certainly operate in deeper waters. And you won't have to construct transmission lines all the way from the plains of Montana to put it to use.

The Great Lakes area has an opportunity to get the jump on wind energy's future, if that fact isrecognized and exploited. Wind energy means jobs for construction and maintenance workers, thousandsof them. Wind energy means leasing rights and extra money for family farmers struggling to make it onagriculture alone. In most cases farmers can grow crops right up to the base of a windmill. The landfootprint has a small impact on total farm acreage. Wind energy also means freedom from fluctuatingfuel prices. Wind is free. The cost of a barrel of polluting oil can be raised or lowered drasticallybased on fears or political whims. The potential gains are enormous. We've all seen the flow of goodmanufacturing jobs out of the area. Well, they can't tell the wind to blow in another country so it'smore "convenient" or cheaper to produce. The wind is perfectly happy to whip up opportunities for usright around here. Most of all, because we here in the Great Lakes region have the potential to havea huge positive impact on U.S. energy industry emissions' contribution to global warming."

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Dan Stafford - PublisherClick on this pic to e-mail Dan.WE WELCOME ENERGY STORY SUBMISSIONS!
Please note the E-mail link by the title of the webpage. Comments, stories, and article submissions are welcome.
Any accepted submission entitles the submitter to a link on the Journal page included at the bottom of their submitted entry when published to the journal.
The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal makes no claim as to the accuracy of submitted material. The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal neither endorses nor opposes opinions expressed in submitted material. Submitter must provide
name, city, and state or country. The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal imples no promise to publish all submissions. Adult content will definitely NOT be published.
Submitted material will be screened and appropriate entries published at the owner's discretion.

Safe, healthy, good for the economy, good for the environment, good for farmers, good for you, and just downright good produce:

I strongly encourage those seriously interested in learning about the technology, players, politics, and issues of Wind Energy to spend time browsing the
American Wind Energy Association website. They are the premier industry trade organization and have extensive resources available.
(www.awea.org)